A doctor and a baby

What a jerk I am, I know it's been way way too long. In normal circumstances, I might consider ditching a person who hadn't updated her blog for this long! But as I'm sure we all know, sometimes life happens. This is what's been happening:

Writing a thesis...

Writing a thesis...

Writing a thesis...

DONE!!

Preparing for my defense...

Preparing for my defense...

.............

DEFENDED!!! GOT A PhD!!!!!

Can't believe it's over, still hasn't sunk in, but I am done reporting to committees and dreading every meeting and feeling inadequate... well, I am sure I will continue to feel inadequate in life, but not in this sense anymore. I'm supposedly the equal to my doctor peers now, so they have to respect my authority!

Here's how a defense goes: You give a presentation that sums up, in about a half an hour to 45 minutes, five years of intense, spirit-breaking work at a bench or a computer or wherever, and then everyone claps and no one asks you any questions because you had to leave so much out that they never really followed you anyway (and according to Kyle, I spoke too fast). Then everyone leaves and your committee grills you about anything they felt you left out. It's funny, you think, they don't ask you any questions about your presentation or your thesis, which you're prepared for, they ask you all the questions you didn't think about first.

They asked me a few questions about what I thought was going on; like a model of cell behavior, that I really really had no answer to, and I gave it my best shot but I really didn't think it was going to fly. But I guess they were satisfied enough with the effort. At least I didn't cry :) (that's a joke. I would not have let these people see me get frazzled).

And then it was over and they switched from this:

To this:

It was gross. Just kidding, but it is weird, it's a very bipolar experience.

Anyway, so that's the PhD process. They call you doctor and you go on your way, it's over, go find something else to do! Hopefully the funding for my new job will be all set and then I can sit back and just relax till the new job starts. I'll hopefully be working at Fox Chase Cancer Center starting late August or early September.

Buuuuuut, that's not my only news... of course, Kyle and I are also expecting a little bundle of joy!! (or poop, depending on how you look at parenthood) It'll look a little something like this:

Crazy yes?! I'm five months pregnant!! I had no morning sickness, no problems so far, and I've officially felt it moving around. I want sweet things all the time. I can't function without my morning waffles anymore or my afternoon jello. And I'm starting to show enough that I had to get new pants and a few new shirts... but mostly I just feel fat! I can't reach my toes anymore!! Although I might just be out of shape flexibility-wise. If I have one piece of advice, it's stay at least a little active, it's made my weight gain not so so bad and kept me feeling good. I was really really tired at first, and then I started walking, nothing major, just a half hour in the mornings, and I stopped feeling like I had to take a nap every morning and afternoon.

So the blog focus might shift a little again, don't worry, it's not going to be crazy baby. In fact, a good friend is getting married (yay!) and has asked me to be bridesmaid, so I will still be talking about weddings. I am also going to start album planning as well, because my mom wants an album, and I'm still interested in DIYing an album, you know, self-binding. I think it'll be fun! I also want to play with the pictures with this instagram-like website called pixlr, it makes your pictures go from this:

 To this:

That's a little extreme of an example (I already loooooove that photo as it is), but you know what I mean, you can modify the colors of your photos AND add effects. It's pretty awesome. More on that as I make more.

That being said, there will be some baby stuff. For now, just me, five months preggers!

Just starting to pooch out a little :) I've started a poll with my family and friends, I'll post more about that later. Right now it's been a half an hour and of course, I have to pee again :P

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: My turn!

After 14 months of planning... after thousands of dollars and craft after craft and after almost 6 years with Kyle, I was on my way to marrying him! Sounds cheesy I know, but I don't mean it that way, it all came rushing at me that this was it, and trust me, I was not feeling too giddy at that point, my chest hurt from my heart pounding.

The music changed once more, and we were signaled to start walking...

I'm going to spare you most the numerous pictures of me staring at the ground, suffice it to say, I was super excited and super happy, but it took me a minute to get my heart rate under control enough to start smiling.

I'm purposely not looking at my dad either.

Sorry, Daddy, not trying to sell you out. But several people told me after the wedding that it was him that was going to make them cry!

To me he looks fantastic though, picture of perfection!

But what the hell am I doing??

Now, I also have to remind myself that when I see it in pictures, it seems like it took longer... People, that walk was the shortest walk of my life in my head. So to me, I was only looking down for a millisecond to gather myself...

 

Yes, that's right, looking in the right direction now, and don't forget to smile!!

Whew!! And of course, now I see Kyle and he sees me and everything's all perfect!!

My Grampa welcomes everyone and tells them all of course why we're here. I can finally relax a little, because everything has been perfect so far and there's no going back! Not that I ever intended to go back, but... you get it.

He asks who gives this woman to this man and I look at my dad, and all of a sudden I hear everyone in the pavilion say "We all do!" Ha, very funny. I love surprises.

I have to be completely honest, I was so nervous and so excited that I don't remember a lot of the details of the beginning of the ceremony, but I know my G said a lot of wonderful words. Finally, it was time to hand me off...

And I remember looking at my dad and being so excited about this part (haha, that sounds horrible, bear with me) because the meaning behind this part of the ceremony might seem antiquated; obviously I haven't lived at home for years, but it really does signify a turning page and start of a new chapter.

The significance of holding my dad's hand and then holding Kyle's was so tangible at that moment. My fingers were tingling!!

And then he handed me off!! And I felt the page turning and the new life beginning. Mia stepped forward to take my bouquet and we were ready to begin!

Tomorrow, WE GET MARRIED!!!

Miss a recap so far? Catch up!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The boys get ready!!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The girls get pretty!!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: We're ready for our close-up!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: We ceremoniously process!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: We're ready for our close-up!

It has only just occurred to me that I never really did set up the day. As in, I never talked about the rehearsal dinner the night before or the morning of the wedding or how the weather was, etc... I kinda' want to do that, so, even though I've already gone through two recaps, I wanna' take a break now to talk about the hours leading up to our big day. Shouldn't take too long.

I spent the whole week before the wedding at my parents' house to get last minute stuff done without worrying about work and the constraints of our house. I also feel calmer at my parents' house because my mom is really good at calming me down and de-stressing me. This is NOT to say that Kyle is bad at it or makes it worse... he's just not as good as my mom... sorry, Sweetie. We got so much done the night before, it's sick... stuff that I swore just wasn't going to get done but my mom insisted would turn out just fine... And then it got done. Wow! So we spent the day before Thanksgiving bringing as many items as we could to Riverdale so that our coordinator could start setting stuff up. I also dropped my dog off at the local kennel for the first time ever... It was traumatic for both of us.

Thanksgiving was wet and kinda' chilly but still, GORGEOUS, by Pennsylvania standards, for late November. I put on a new sweater and we headed to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, his mom, and our whole bridal party. My new sweater started molting all over everything. I mean EVERYTHING and I was like "Really?!?!" and got a little inordinately stressed out about it, so I had to go find our hotel room for the night (that I was sharing with Keri and Jordan) and change. Rehearsal dinner/Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the Courtyard Marriott was totally awesome considering we didn't have to do anything! I wasn't overly hungry, although I tried to eat a lot so that I wouldn't get those funny empty belly stress cramps. I remember masking my nervousness with humor, but I also remember being very happy to see Kyle, who was in Philly for the whole week I was at my parents' and who I was seeing for the first time all week, after changing my molting sweater, and I remember being very very happy that everyone I loved was in a big room together having the weirdest Thanksgiving ever. Oh, there was also a "rehearsal" which consisted of my G just saying what we were going to do... and then we were done... Rehearsal Win!

We all watched the Ravens game that night in the lounge at the hotel and some people drank too much, thankfully no one involved in the wedding. I spent my time mingling because a lot of family members came to the hotel the night before the wedding to avoid Black Friday traffic. Kyle and I stayed up latest and just talked for awhile (necessary! spend time with your honey!!) before finally going to our separate hotel rooms for the night! I slept like a log by the way, got six hours of sleep. It sufficed.

Friday dawned bright and crisp promising a 60+ degree dry day. Let me honestly say that I had maintained NO hopes about the weather being gorgeous on our wedding day because I didn't want to get my hopes up and be horribly disappointed/have no back-up plans. But I thought this must be too good to be true. I had to take my jacket off walking to the salon to get the girls' hair did! It will always remain in my eyes the most gorgeous late November day in the history of Southern Pennsylvania.

I didn't get any pictures of the girls getting their hair done because all I could think of was "HURRY UP!!!!!" So... we'll just leave that at that. Once we got to Riverdale, we had to set up the ceremony site because I had only just finished making the alter the night before Thanksgiving. I had to bring the pieces to the venue on Friday and all hands turned up to help us put it together:

I know, I'm not talking about the alter. Obviously you'll see it in the ceremony and in the details posts. Patience!

I love this picture, love that Ben got both of us working on this labor of love.

I spent a lot of time making sure everything was just so. Thanks to all the guys for sticking around to help out getting that up. I had to jet to start getting ready, Kyle and Co. had more time to help set up last minute things and chill before getting ready... And then they STILL had more time after getting ready to get some formal portraits! Whatever, I'll try not to be too bitter, because God knows there are plenty of pictures of me to come. For now, spotlight on my honey!

I told you he was slick!

I'm so glad we have these pictures of him now. He looks so handsome! Now, sexy time!

^ Casual sexy............................. nonchalant sexy ^ .................... and just-plain SEXY sexy:

He is KILLIN' it! Wearin' that ensemble like he's doin' it a FAVOR!

Anyway, meanwhile, my ensemble is coming together and Ben takes me aside for a few shots before the ceremony starts:

Finally, work that window like it owes you money!!

 

We'll get into how disappointed I am with my makeup at a later date X)

So, did I have grandiose plans for pictures before the ceremony? You betcha' but then, and even now, I knew I had something even better to look forward to.

Next, we procession!!

Miss a recap so far? Catch up!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The boys get ready!!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The girls get pretty!!

Let me get my bearings

OK, so this is one of those apologetic posts... sorry for that... haha

Let me explain, briefly: I promised before the honeymoon reception pictures from guests. I promised two days ago the second half of the honeymoon pictures. Then more people posted more pictures on Facebook. THEN I got a cold. THEN Ben e-mailed me telling me that our professional pictures were ready!

So, I have to get my you-know-what together. Oh, and get back to work! Let me get my head on straight, organize my thoughts and my jpegs, and man will I have a lot of awesome stuff to show you.

First- guest photos
Second- the second half of the honeymoon
Third- RECAPS!!! Whoo hoo!!

I'm not even commenting on the professional photos yet because I'll start spazzing (in a good way!) but SOON!

My bags are packed...

I'm ready to go... We're all at the hotel ready for a wedding tomorrow. We had Thanksgiving dinner catered at the hotel and I saw The Man tonight for the first time all week. He got a haircut (but not a shave) and he was lookin' good. Our families came from all over to have dinner with us and watch Thanksgiving football games! Tonight was a great night.

I went to the spa yesterday and got a facial and a mani/pedi... It was amazing. I was sad to not be there with any of my bridal party, but it was very nice getting some ME time. Kyle and I spent some US time after dinner tonight just catching up and talking about us. We have the rings, and we have the marriage license... that's all that matters... and ourselves of course. In 15 hours, we'll be husband and wife. I can't believe it! I can't wrap my head around it yet. I've been planning a party for 14 months, tomorrow is the fruition of one big planned event.

I want to thank everyone for your support, wishes, thoughts... you made this whole blogging process such a pleasure. This is such a supportive community.

I can't say much more... I'm a tad scattered right now, but I will leave it at this; I go to bed a Miss, and tomorrow I will be a Missus. The next time you hear from me, I'll be a married woman! I'm a little tipsy now, which I feel is exactly how I should be :) I hope to get a good night's sleep and then try to relax tomorrow; I surrounded myself with a fantastic core. Thanks to my mom and dad and brother and sister... I couldn't have gotten everything done without them. I am so thankful that my family will all be around me, that his family will be around him.

To my best friend, the man of my dreams, my soul mate, the love of my life: I love you so much, I cannot wait to marry you. I cannot wait to start our life together. I am beyond ecstatic right now. I am on cloud 9. I would be more philosophical... but I sooo tired! Hopefully my vows will be more eloquent!

How did my married readers feel on the eve of your wedding??

I'm leavin' on a jet plane!!!

What a day

And it's just now coming to a close. The last awesome thing to happen today was my computer dying in front of me... But I'm being overly dramatic because that was the only bad thing to happen today. I suppose I'm also in a bad mood from being away from the man for a few days before our wedding, and he's busy with work and not happy about the tasks that he has left to do at home while I'm here at my parents, apparently eating bon bons and reading Redbook.

No, he didn't actually say that, and obvs, I have not been just eating bon bons and reading Redbook. Just like last night was text heavy, get ready to get photo-blasted:

Small taste of the stuff that I invaded my parents' garage with. This isn't everything either.

Hooray!!! Place cards!!

Say hello to my little friends! My awesome helpers sister Jordan and Mama who were so awesome today. We worked non-stop and without them, I'd be pulling an all-nighter on this one, and stuff wouldn't have turned out as nice:

Sister Jordan's aisle markers! And the milk jug and watering can above are my Mama's handy work.

Two extra sets of hands was pivotal in getting these babies packaged and labeled. Yes, I used a pineapple for scale, who doesn't?

I did some stuff too though... Plus:

Ta-da!! PVC pipe magically transformed into... something that doesn't look entirely like ugly PVC pipe. I'm sure once it's all said and done, the fabric strip backdrop will remain the focus anyway. Otherwise, we had a problem, we came up with a quick solution, hopefully this solution is... not a total disaster... Full mock-up tomorrow.

My Ma was instrumental in not letting me panic about what time we had left or how many things we had to do still. We got everything that needed to be done to take to the venue tomorrow done. The only tasks left are my personalized hanger, modifications to further prettify my hair flower, and maybe some more bunting. Couldn't have done it without her. Lastly, my pops was on hand too to offer emotional support, and when he wasn't there, I worked most of the day and night right next to this bad boy:

Boom... Yeah, I asked for something like a 3-4 foot picnic bench, I got a hope chest. I'm not complaining!! On the contrary! And my dad then immersed himself into finding just the right marker for guests to sign. He took this request so seriously, and for that, he makes me feel so special.

While I miss the man and could use his support, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place right now. I'm sure Kyle would be telling me to relax and have a beer, my mom never told me 'Oh, you can put it off till tomorrow' but she's also not freaking out and her calm is keeping me calm. 2.5 days left, and it's crazy late, so I must get some beauty rest. We're taking all the non-perishables to Riverdale tomorrow so they can set stuff up for us on Friday, then I get to relax with a facial and mani/pedi. I have to say that I feel guilty about spending the money but THEE LAST thing I want right now is a freakout or a zit to... pop up :)

How was my fellow brides' last few days? Where did you draw your strength and calm from?